Bob Dylan on Outliving the Clocks and Running Out of Illusions

As Donald Trump turned 80, the New York Times asked notable octogenarians about the best and worst of entering that decade. Dylan, now 85, gave an unsparing reflection on clarity, regret, and the peculiar stillness of time.

Buried in a New York Times feature that asked a roster of distinguished 80- and 90-somethings to mark Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, Bob Dylan’s response cut through the occasion’s noise. The 85-year-old didn’t offer advice—he left that to Gloria Steinem (“Resign”) and Dionne Warwick (“Start acting like he is 80!”)—and instead delivered a compact, unsentimental meditation on what it means to have outlived certain pressures.

The best thing, Dylan said, is “freedom from that lie that anything was ever under control.” He spoke of no longer chasing the parade, of becoming “harder to program.” The haunting isn’t from past deeds, but from the realization